Electric-railway trolley



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

F. J. SPRAGUE & P. F. OSHAUGHNESSY. ELECTRIC. RAILWAY TROLLEY.

No. 465,806. Patented Dec, 22, 1891.

WITNESSES: 7 W I/VV IVTORS C I v M A By 714.?

ATTORIVEYJT (No Model. 1 2 SheetsSheet 2.

F. J. S-PRAGUE & P. P. OSHAUGHNESSY. ELECTRIC RAILWAY TROLLEY.

Patented Dec. 22, 1891.

JV 2. v @c 0 WITNESSES INVENTO s L y k M C Arm/"45ml UNITED STATEs PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK J. SPRAGUE AND PATRICK F. OSHAUGHNESSY, OF N E\V YORK, N. Y.,

ASSIGNORS TO THE SPRAGUE ELECTRIC RAILWAY AND MOTOR COM- .PANY, OF SAME PLACE.

ELECTRIC- RAILWAY TRO LLEY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 465,806, dated December 22, 1891. Application filed January 22, 1889- Serial No. 297,216. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.

Be it known that we, FRANK J. SPRAGUE and PATRICK F. OSHAUeHNEssY, both citizens of the United States, and both residing at the city of New York, in the county and State of New York, have jointly invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Electric Railways, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to that class of electric railways in which an overhead line is'employed and a contact device, usually a grooved wheel or trolley, makes an underneath contact with said line, such trolley being carried [5 by the car and taking current from the line to propel the car.

More especially our invention relates to an improved support for the trolley, by which it is carried on the roof of the car. Heretofore in the use of devices for this purpose it has been found best in many cases to support the pole which carries the trolley on a verticallyplaced spiral spring rising from the roof of the car, whereby the trolley is held firmly 2 5 against the wire, but is at the sametime flexibl y supported, so that longitudinal and transverse movement is permitted, whereby the trolley adapts itself to changes in the elevation and direction of the line relative to the 0 car, and whereby the inclination of the pole may be reversed when the direction of movement of the car is reversed. It is often necessary, however, in practice to draw the trolley-pole down close to the roof of the car in 3 5 order to pass under bridges or other obstructions, and also when the car or the trolley is not in use, and it is found that this excessive bending of the vertical spiral may cause the spring to lose its tension, it being necessary 40 to employ a heavy spring in order to get the required pressure of the trolley upon the wire.

It is our especial object in this invention to provide a trolley-support which shall have all the advantages of the arrangement just de- 5 scribed, but in which there shall be no danger of the spring losing its tension by any amount of bending to which it can be sub jected. In carrying out this object we employa spiral spring coiled on a horizontal axis transverse of the car, and we pivot the trol- 5o ley-pole and connect it with the spring in such manner that the pressure of the springis exerted to maintain the trolley against the Wire in any position and at any angle at which the trolley-pole is placed when in use, and when the strain is put upon the spring by lowering the trolley-pole it will be seen that the pressure being equally distributed among the convolutions of the horizontal spring there is no such strain on any part of the spring as there would be with a vertical spring, and thereforethe loss of tension in the spring due to excessive bending is obviated. In order to permit the lateral movement of the trolley, we providein addition to the horizontal spring a vertical spiral spring interpolated in the trolley-support. Since the lateral movement required is never very great, the vertical spring is very effective for this purpose.

Our invention is illustrated in the accoin- 7o panying drawings.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a railway-car having a trolley-support embodying our invention; Fig. 2, a front view of the lower portion of the trolley-support, and Fig. 3 a side view and partial vertical section of the same.

i A is an electric railway car which, as will be understood, is provided with an electric motor for propelling it, the current for the motors being conveyed by the overhead wire 8c B and taken from said wire to the car by grooved wheel or trolley 0, making an underneath contact with said wire and carried by a pole D.

Upon the roof of the car is placed a standard E, extending crosswise of the roof and having at its ends feet a, by which it is bolted or otherwise secured to the roof. Extending across the standard E and resting in turning sleeves E at the ends of the standard is a 0 spindle F, which carries outside the standard a bar G, having downweirdly-extending ends turning on the spindle F. Upon each of the sleeves E within the standard E is a flange or collar II, containinga series of holes I), and 5 upon the spindle is coiled a heavy spiral spring 1, whose ends are secured to the collars II. In one of the holes I) of each of the collars H. is inserted a projecting pin K or K, the pin K projecting in front of the bar G and the pin K projecting behind said bar. Above the bar G on each side thereof there extends two vertical pivoted links L L, and between the links L L is placed avertical coiled spiral spring M. Inserted in the spring M and carried thereby is a metal sleeve N, on which is a collar 0, from which extend trunnions c, turning in the links L L. Within the sleeve N is an insulated sleeve P, in which is inserted'the hollow pole D. An insulated wire Q extends from the trolley through the hollow pole for conveying current to the motor. It will be seen that the pins K and K form ends for the horizontal spring I extending up on either side of stationary bar E and the pivoted bar G, which carries the trolley pole, whereby, when such pole is inclined to an angle in either direction, the pressure of said spring I is exerted against said bar and tends to return the pole to a vertical position, and so holds the trolley in firm contact with the overhead Wire. The trolley-pole may thus be maintained in the inclined position illustrated in Fig. 1, or in a reverse position,or at any required angle on either side of the vertical position. I

A line B is attached to the top of the trolley-pole and terminates in a handle S at the end of the car, and by means of this line the person in charge of the car can draw the trolley-pole down when necessary. It will be seen that, if desired, the trolley-pole may be drawn down close to the roof of the car, and since the horizontal spring is used the strain on such spring under such extreme bending is not detrimental to said spring. The spring I also permits the trolley to conform to changes in the elevation of the overhead line relative to the car, While the spring M permits a suflicient transverse movement of the pole to allow it to adapt itself to variations in the relative lateral position of the car and the overhead line. The links L L form a stop which limits this lateral inclination, so that the pole cannot incline so far that the trolloy will leave the line, and also form a frame or stop which prevents the spring M from flexing or yielding in the direction of length of the car. When the direction of movement of the car is to be reversed, the operator draws down the trolley and swings it over to the reverse inclination and allows it to rise against the wire again.

WVe do not claim herein the vertical spring shown and described, nor do we claim herein the combination of the vertical and horizontal springs, as these matters are claimed in our application, Serial No. 323,271, filed September 7, 1889, which is a division of the present application.

\Vhat we claim is 1. The combination, with an electric-railway car, of a contact device, a pole carrying said contact device, a transverse bar carrying said pole, a single horizontally-placed spiral spring, both ends of which engage said bar but on opposite sides of said bar, and a stationary support for said spring, substantially as set forth. 1

2. The combination, with an electric-railway car, of a standard extending across the roof thereof, a transverse bar pivoted on said standard, a pole carried by said bar, a contact device carried by said pole, and a single hori zontally-placed spiral spring supported by said standard, and both ends of which engage said transverse bar but on opposite sides thereof, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination, with an electric-railway car, of a contact device carried thereby, a pivoted support for said contact device, a stationary spiral spring, both ends of which engage said support but on opposite sides thereof, and a stationary support for said spring, substantially as set forth.

This specification signed and witnessed this 14th day of January, 1889.

FRANK J. SPRAGUE. PATRICK F. OSHAUGHNESSY.

\Vitnesses:

E. VAUGHAN, J. E. MoULTRoP. 

